Movie Reviews

Movie Review by Trijai Nerthi (Rocheston Certified Movie Critic)

Following a line of crass, thoughtless and politically incorrect films including Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva, Kattapava Kannom and Remo is the recent Udhayanidhi Stalin starrer Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen. Most of the comedy is vulgar, most of the commercial elements are borrowed and the existence of even a meager plot is questionable. At one point of time, director Ezhil made dignified films like Poovellam Un Vaasam, now he seems to have lost his way in an uncouth jungle meant for mass and misleading disasters.

Many directors in Tamil cinema seem to be under the opinion that comedy without ridicule is non-existent. From the beginning till the very end, the comedy tracks in Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen is demeaning and degrading. Most of the jokes hurt people and most of the laughs rendered are at another person’s expense. From shaming the elderly to objectifying women, the comedy is stuffed with so many misogynistic elements.

Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen is abundantly flawed, but an aspect that is clearly visible is the absence of clarity. Director Ezhil has basically torn apart elements of commercial viability and stitched them together to make for a thoughtless and mindless stew that has too many cliched and offensive characteristics. From horror, action, comedy and romance, misconstrued elements of all these genres are thrown together to make for a tasteless and crass broth of a film.

By now, identifying objectification in so called mainstream formulaic films is like being surprised by the presence of Soori. Objectification and the presence of Soori have become inseparable to commercial Tamil Cinema. Even though they are unrelated, these two factors coincide every now and then.

In the second half, a sequence that acts as a compilation of the recent mass songs resemble an episode of Vijay TV’s Kalakka Povathu Yaaru. Most of the sequences in the film are not connected at all, it’s as though you accidentally switched on Adithya TV for a round of badly executed comedy from a plethora of mediocre films.

This film fares lower by a hundred miles in comparison to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s standard formulaic entertainers. He has tried upping his dance skills but his moves have failed him once again. Udhayanidhi Stalin’s boy next door image worked well, but this sudden heroism that seems to be making it’s way into his recent films should be deemed unsuitable. Regina Cassandra is objectifiedand placed as a glam doll all through the film. She is present to merely increase the inappropriate oomph factor. Srushti Dange as Fathima is a cross between Casper and Genie. The reasoning used for her character is laughable and lazily written.

In accordance with the crass narrative is the film’s excessively flashy music. Considering Imman’s seamless reputation, such forgettable and graceless music from him is belittling and appalling. The sound mixing is unbearable too, even dialogues are delivered in a jarring manner.The whole audio experience makes your eardrums vibrate with pain.

Overall, Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen is a crass, objectifying and unoriginal film with a plot that is almost non-existent. By all means, skip this chaotic film if you’re not one for superficial and sensationalizing stories.